The Potion Diaries (25 page)

‘My great-grandmother,’ I say in barely a whisper.

‘Seriously?’ He raises an eyebrow. ‘That’s epic.’

I swallow and nod. Pride grips my heart. This is what I’ve known all along. The Kemi legacy. Great-grandma Cleo was a pioneer. Maybe I can be a pioneer too. I want to take the picture with me, but she belongs here. I hang her back up on the wall, adjusting the frame until it sits perfectly straight.

We gather outside, and the wind has picked up considerably. Jedda points to a pass leading further up the mountain. ‘The last abominable to be seen was up that way. Do you want to start there?’

Kirsty and Zol nod. After a quick check of supplies, we begin the climb. Now, I appreciate having the heavy boots. The climb is much steeper here than it was before, and I need the grip against the icy slopes.

Dotted up the mountainside, I can see the yawning black entrances of caves, home to the abominables. The cave system is so extensive that there could be an abominable looking down on us right now and we would never know.

Every now and again, Kirsty stops and looks through her binoculars. She gazes across the mountains in broad sweeps, focusing on the caves but also on the seemingly flat expanses of white snow. What might look like flat ground because of the sheer, shadowless white is actually steep mountainside.

I unwind the scarf from around my neck. Despite the temperature I’m warm from the exercise and being under the sun. Kirsty looks over at me, then passes me the binoculars.

‘What am I looking for?’ I ask.

‘Tracks,’ she says. ‘Abominables themselves are pretty hard to spot. But look for deep tracks in the snow, and then for any rocks nearby. Rocks – bare, not-yet-covered-in-snow rocks – are going to be the only way for us to find any fur. Trees maybe, but we’re moving pretty high beyond the treeline now, so any shrubs you see are gonna get more and more sparse.’

I do a slow, steady panorama of the nearest mountainside, but can’t see anything. I pass the binoculars back to Kirsty. ‘Never mind,’ she says. ‘Our luck would have to take a pretty sharp turn for us to find it straight away. I’d expect at least one night on the mountain.’

Zol scoffs loudly. ‘I’m not spending a night on this bloody mountain if I can help it.’

‘And I suppose you have some abominable tracking device—’

‘Actually, I do,’ he says. ‘This is why you ordinary Finders are nothing more than unemployed hippies. Talenteds have ways of dealing with this – satellite imagery, heat detection, access to recent sightings – all accessible using our objects. I don’t need to bother with scanning the entire mountain range with a pair of hardware-store binoculars.’

I expect Kirsty to explode with rage, but she laughs. ‘You don’t think there’s a reason most Finders are ordinary, and if they’re Talented then they don’t use their magic? Don’t think you can replace instincts, honed through experience, with synthetic ones, like you’ve done with potions and their ingredients.’

Zol isn’t listening. He’s removed his ring from around his neck, and it glows gently in his palm. I dig into my pocket and find my phone. Predictably, there’s no signal up here. I look over at his ring. If he is able to access his satellite imagery and whatnot via magic, that would help us out a lot. Speed up the process. So despite what Kirsty says, I pray that it works.

Something works. After a few of his whispered words, a map of the mountain range flashes up before us, lit in eerie green glowing light. Zain pipes up: ‘Look, there we are.’ He points to a flashing blue dot.

‘All right, see? Now, I’ll find out if there are any large animals around that could be abominables . . . it’s not likely to be anything else, right?’ He looks over at Jedda, who is staring wide-eyed at the map and slowly backing away. I wonder if he’s ever seen magic like this before. But Kirsty is backing up too. She tilts her head urgently, signalling for me to move. I frown.

Suddenly there’s a
whoosh
like air being sucked up by a vacuum, and I’m blinded by green light. I scream and drop to the ground. As my vision returns, I see Zol, his face soot-black. He’s coughing and covering his eyes. The map is gone; his ring is smoking. I look down and see that I’m covered in the same black stuff that Zol is. Magic soot.

‘My ring!’ Zol’s face is white with panic. ‘What am I to do without it? We have to turn back. We MUST turn back.’ He turns and walks in the other direction.

Kirsty laughs. She’s untouched by the black residue. ‘Can’t you survive without that object just for one day?’

‘No,’ says Zol. ‘Not a single moment. I’ve . . . I’ve never been without it.’ He looks like a baby that’s just lost its blanket. I forget how reliant Talenteds are on their objects.

‘We can’t go back now. It’s the altitude,’ says Kirsty. ‘It messes with your magic. Especially in the Wilds.
That’s
why most of us “Finder hippies” are ordinary. I told you magic is unpredictable in these parts.’

‘Well, at least one good thing came out of this,’ Zain says, trying to calm his father. ‘At least we know where to find an abominable. I saw it before the map exploded. It’s close. Just on the other side of that mountain pass.’

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

Samantha

I
COULD HAVE THROWN MY ARMS AROUND Zain when he said he’d caught sight of the abominable. It is worth even having to clean my face in the freezing snow, and hiking with the rest of my clothing covered in black dust. He’s found an abominable! That means we can get out of here fast. And good thing too, because as the day progresses, it seems to be getting even colder.

I wrap my scarf more firmly around my neck, trying to contain my warm breath. The problem is that where the air escapes – around my nose and cheekbones – it freezes fast, creating crystals that scratch at my skin. It’s still bright, but any warmth that the sun could provide is leeched by the wind.

I’m too cold even to think about Zain. Although when his voice rings out, I lift my head, and am rewarded with another blast of cold air. His words are worth it, though. ‘Tracks!’ he says. ‘Really close.’

Kirsty jogs up to him, and I catch up a few moments later. Ahead of us is a set of deep tracks. We can literally follow in an abominable’s footsteps if we change our course.

Jedda does a few calculations, and spends several moments examining the snow. ‘We can proceed, but it must be with caution. These mountain paths are deceptively narrow, and the snow hides steep drops.’ Re-energised, our group follows in his footsteps.

A series of caves runs high above our heads, parallel to us. They’re a long way up, but they creep me out. They look like dozens of black eyes dotted in the mountain.

While I’m distracted, Jedda cries out. He jumps back, but his leg is rooted to the ground, caught up in a gruesome-looking metal trap. Kirsty steps forward, but Jedda throws his arm out to stop her. She leaps back just as another trap springs up out of the ground. ‘What the hell?’ she cries.

Then, a figure rounds the corner of the path up ahead of us.

My stomach almost drops out of my body. It’s Emilia Thoth. At her side is someone I assume must be the missing Sherpa, his eyes full of fear. And in her hand is a gun.

‘Sam and Kirsty,’ she says, her voice steady as she points the weapon at us. ‘I thought I told you to stop hunting? And Zol, I’m surprised you’ve made it this far. I guess those researchers of yours must be doing a good job.’

‘Emilia, be reasonable . . .’ says Zol, his voice shaking. He clutches for his ring, but his hand freezes once he remembers.

‘I
reasonably
warned you all to stop searching for this cure. Others – like your friends the Patels – were so much happier to oblige.’

My heart screams. ‘What did you do to them?’ I shout.

Emilia continues, ignoring my outburst. ‘But you disobeyed me, so now is my opportunity to be
unreasonable
. And how are you going to stop me? Magic doesn’t work up here, but I shouldn’t worry – I’ve trained in the ordinary arts as hard as the Talented.’

‘What are you going to do, shoot us all on the mountain?’ I could almost kill Kirsty for how bold she sounds. Emilia looks deranged, her eyes flashing in the sun. She’s not a woman to challenge.

‘I’ve already dispatched one team on the mountain that way. How else do you think I found this nice Sherpa to show me the path so I could rig it with traps?’ Her voice is ice cold. Colder than the mountain. ‘No one will save the Princess except me. Nova has forgotten what true power is. It is time to remind them.’

‘Emilia . . . Ms Thoth . . .’ Zol has a simpering, begging tone in his voice.

‘It’s future
Queen
Emilia, actually.’

‘Queen Emilia . . . please, spare me and my son. We can be useful to you. My son is a strong Talent! And I have the power of ZoroAster Corp to support your realm.’

Emilia arches an eyebrow. ‘It would be a shame to kill such a fine Talented boy, even if he does stink of new magic. You’re right, you could be useful. But you,’ she turns her laser sharp gaze to me. ‘You’re just ordinary scum getting in my way. Once I might have respected your profession, studied it, even! But you have let your skills rot and you have outlasted your usefulness. So goodbye, Kemi.’

I think of Arjun and Anita.

I think of Princess Evelyn.

I think of my family.

I think of my great-grandmother, the first woman to conquer this mountain. She wouldn’t have given up. She wouldn’t have backed down.

‘No.’ Now I’m really in shock, because out of nowhere, I’ve found courage. Maybe the mountain air is making me loopy but I take a step towards Emilia, ignoring the gun and the fear of the traps.

‘Don’t test me, Kemi!’

‘Sam, no!’ Kirsty shouts.

My heart fills with fear, but I keep walking, picking up into a run. My vision blurs and I can’t see Emilia clearly, but I can sense her. I can sense her outstretched arm. Her gun pointed at my chest.

‘You’re done,’ she says. Her finger squeezes the trigger.

For a second, I don’t notice the snow shift beneath my feet. My heavy boots lose purchase, my ankle twists, and underneath the path there isn’t solid ground at all but air . . . air and a steep drop.

It all happens so fast. The crumbling ground forces Emilia back a few steps. Kirsty rushes at Emilia, tackling her to the ground. All the while, I continue to fall.

The gun goes off. The sound of it echoes off the face of the mountain. I seem to hear it again.
Bang. Bang.
Is it an echo? Or is Emilia shooting the rest of our group, one by one?

Zain shouts my name. At least, I think he does. He’s alive. But his voice gets fainter and fainter as I tumble in the snow, down the slope. I try to throw my arms out to grab hold of something, anything, but nothing catches. I’m helpless against the fall and soon I can’t tell up from down.

A large rock stops my progress, my back colliding against the hard stone. A jolt of pain shoots up my spine and I groan in agony. Gritting my teeth, I open my eyes to watch as Kirsty wrestles with Emilia; Kirsty’s going to be overwhelmed. And Zain rushes down the slope towards me, half-sliding, half-scrambling. His father shouts above him.

Far more disturbing is the rumbling, which seems to be coming from deep within the mountain itself. But I know better, because facing back up the mountain, I can see the movement above their heads. It almost looks pretty, like the heavens descending on us, rapidly gaining speed.

Avalanche.

Jedda can sense it now, and he’s screaming, his leg still clamped to the trap. Everyone can feel the ground shaking. The panic is clear on their faces. Emilia shoves Kirsty back, then disappears down the mountainside in the direction she came from – dragging the poor other Sherpa in tow. Kirsty helps Jedda with his leg, pulling the jaws of the trap apart so he can drag himself out. She starts towards me but Jedda pulls her away, sideways across the mountain.

I am immobile in the face of the wave of snow.

Except Zain. Zain keeps coming. Zain reaches me.

‘Are you—’

His words are lost in the roar. He yanks my arm, not concerned about my pain; only our mutual survival. Frankly, I’m okay with that. We stumble into a run, keeping as horizontal as we can.